By Nisar Ahmed Thakur
In Indian occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir, gradual erosion of Kashmiri voices from the state hierarchy is perhaps the biggest challenge the region’s majority population is facing today. They are not just politically sidelined — they are systematically being pushed out of the institutions that once gave them a say in their own governance.
Biased recruitment practices, reservation recalibrations that skew opportunities away from Valley candidates, and the deliberate invocation of regional and communal narratives by those in the corridors of power have steadily hollowed out the space for ethnic Kashmiris. This is no longer a debate confined to politics; it is a structural reality that shapes everyday life and opportunity.
The 2024 Assembly elections were projected as an important milestone to restore normalcy and rule of law after years of direct central rule. But what is unfolding under that veneer tells a different story — one of exclusionary politics that is steadily erasing Kashmiri voices from the institutions meant to serve them.
Behind the façade of electoral legitimacy lies a calculated interplay of biased recruitment policies, skewed reservation frameworks, and the deliberate use of regionalism and communal narratives by those in power, determined to hollow out the space for ethnic Kashmiris. A cursory look at recent recruitments makes it clear how governance is being reshaped into a hierarchy that no longer reflects the people it is meant to serve.
Consider recruitment data. In the 2022 JKPSI (Sub-Inspector) process conducted after the 2019 reorganisation, roughly 79% of the selected candidates came from Jammu, while Kashmir accounted for only about 17%. Reserved category allocations such as SC and ALC/IB went almost entirely to Jammu. Subsequent police constable recruitments (2025–2026) followed the same pattern, with the Valley claiming barely 15–20% of posts, despite being home to over half (nearly 60%) of the UT’s population. Judicial recruitment, too, has shown similar imbalances.
Similarly, around 11.8 lakh reservation certificates have been issued across multiple categories. A large proportion of these certificates have been issued in the Jammu division compared to the Kashmir division.
Under the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category, Jammu accounts for 92.5% of the certificates while Kashmir receives only 7.4%. A similar pattern is visible in the Scheduled Caste (SC) category, where 98.76% of certificates have been issued in Jammu and merely 1.24% in the Kashmir Valley. In the Actual Line of Control (ALC) category, Jammu holds 93.6% compared to 6.4% for Kashmir, while in the International Border (IB) category the entire 100% share belongs to Jammu with none issued in Kashmir. The Other Backward Classes (OBC) category also shows a noticeable tilt, with 59.8% certificates issued in Jammu and 40.2% in Kashmir.
These figures go beyond statistics — they reveal a deliberate pattern, one that gradually pushes ethnic Kashmiris out of institutions that should reflect their community. Such recalibrations in the reservation framework have intensified concerns among the majority population in the region that they are being deliberately pushed to the margins. By the way they have reason to believe so, as in just a couple of years the RBA quota allocated to the Valley has fallen from 20 percent to 10 percent, while other categories — largely benefiting Jammu — have either been retained or expanded.
Far from being a reform, it represents a form of structural exclusion that steadily narrows opportunities for local youth.
On the other hand, policies of this nature, have the potential to significantly reshape the region’s administrative, cultural, linguistic and political landscape. As recruitment patterns increasingly tilt away from the Valley, the composition of the bureaucracy is bound to change, gradually reducing the representation of locals within key institutions.
A look at the Valley’s administrative structure reveals a striking pattern: many key positions are occupied by non-Kashmiri bureaucrats drawn from other Indian states. The Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Jammu and Kashmir, for instance, is a non-Kashmiri, and several senior posts in the police hierarchy — including the Director General of Police (DGP) and the heads of agencies such as the State Investigation Agency (SIA) — are held by officials who are not from the region.
Over time, this shift may also alter the linguistic and cultural character of governance in the Valley, where Kashmiri, the predominant local language risks being pushed to the margins as administrative spaces become less reflective of the region’s social and linguistic realities.
Political leaders across Kashmir have consistently warned that the existing reservation framework erodes merit and sidelines the ethnic Kashmiri community.
Unfortunately, the present day government, which capitalised on Kashmiri sentiment in the previous elections, has failed to protect the fundamental interests of the Kashmiri people. It appears totally paralyzed and unable to respond to the real concerns of the people, who are steadily being pushed to the periphery of their own land.
When it comes to restoring the region’s statehood or defending its territorial integrity they once called non-negotiable, the NC has once again disappointed those who entrusted them with power.
Kashmir today stands divided not only along political lines, but this divide has also permeated administrative processes at every level. Bureaucratic postings, resource allocation, and routine decisions are all filtered through a communal lens. Officers are no longer judged by their competence, but by their religion or region of origin.
At the top tier of governance, these fault lines are even more visible. In so-called Legislative Assembly elected representatives frequently appear to champion community interests rather than the broader interests of the state. Assembly debates are increasingly dominated by voices that champion regional and communal interests, often at the expense of the state’s broader welfare.
In January 2026, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and MLA made headlines by calling for a separate state for Jammu and casting doubts on the loyalty of residents in the Kashmir Valley.
The discourse that fosters communal divisions also underscores the RSS–BJP’s ideological focus on Hindu nationalism, using stereotyping as a political strategy that intensifies mistrust rather than encouraging reconciliation.
Once priding itself on a shared, composite identity, Jammu and Kashmir today faces stark polarization, with fault lines running through its political, administrative, and psychological landscape.
The writer is Director media and communications Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR) and can be reached at : nissarthukar@gmail.com
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